Echoes 1 Now complete
by Silverdamocles
Summary: The Northern Irish coast has some secrets, some say echoes. Mulder and Scully discover a few for themselves. Now complete. Let me know what you think. Silver.
1. Chapter 1

Echoes by truthwebothknow1 Rating PG , adult viewers , few bad words.  
Keywords MT SA MA X file MSR Spoiler. Amor Fati trilogy,  
Written for the IMTP virtual season 15 and alludes to some aspects of canon in those fics.

Summary. The Northern Irish coast has some secrets, some say echoes.

Archive: Feel free, just let me know.  
Feedback. Sure

Disclaimer.  
Not for profit and The X files belongs to cc and Fox. Auntie Katherine belongs to me and is probably me in about 40 years LOL.

Dedicated To Joi who has been waiting way too long for me to finish her birthday fic so you can have this one. It in time for this years birthday. :)

This story is finished and i will be posting one or two parts a night for the next few nights.

Echoes

Belfast airport 15th March 2008

"I got hold of my aunt. She's picking us up in about an hour." Scully popped her cell phone back in her jacket pocket as Mulder retrieved their bags from the carousel.

"That's great, Scully. This is your Mom's aunt right ..so your great Aunt?"

"Katherine Tooley. Yes," Scully smiled widely, " My namesake. Mom named me for her but she in turn, was also named for another Katherine from way back, many years in fact. My great, great great-grandmother Tooley. "

Mulder grinned at his lover's enthusiasm for this whole trip. She'd been in a state of awe and childlike excitement for days and he found it so endearing. "Have you ever met her before?" They were heading towards customs now, both of them taking in the St. Patrick's Day bunting and paraphernalia hanging everywhere. They really took this holiday seriously here.

"No but I have spoken to her on the phone a few times. She was coming over to visit Mom in Baltimore a few years ago but her husband Ned, died suddenly. She has been alone since. Runs her small sheep farm out on the Antrim coast by herself, does a bit of painting and stuff. Independent feisty lady."

"Umm, like someone else I could name... who's not more than a few yards away from me". Mulder's hand gently cupped Scully's cheek, rubbing a thumb back and forth. She leaned into his touch as they waited in line to go through the gate into the main concourse.

"I wonder who you could mean", she giggled, slipping her arm into his free one that wasn't carrying his bags.

Once through arrivals they noticed more trappings of the St. Patrick's Day celebrations. People bustling by wearing Irish tri-color scarves and sometime the odd silly green hat. Mulder explained that this usually meant a Rugby Derby was imminent and people of Irish descent were filing in from all over Europe and further afield to watch the match. Scully seemed to lap it all up taking in the sights and foreign smells. They found a luggage cart and dumped their bags into it.

It was good take a vacation now and then, to get away from the trauma and loss of the last few months and just chill in a completely different place, somewhere much quieter, with a relatively slower pace of life. Her great aunt's cliff top home seemed an ideal place for her and Mulder to recharge their batteries before taking on the slew of new cases Skinner had mentioned at their last meeting, before he insisted they took some much needed leave.

Her aunt had been bugging her for months about coming over to spend a few days and finally meet her. She knew Katharine and Maggie were close, and had started talking a lot more via phone and email after Billy's death. Now with her other brother gone and Dana being the last one, it seemed her aunt was anxious to meet the only surviving child of Maggie Scully before a cruel twist of fate took her as well. Surviving family was important to Scully a lot more recently, so who could refuse Katherine's kind offer. Her mother had mentioned that she was a bit eccentric and unusual. Right up Mulder's street then from the sound of it.

She was so looking forward to this trip and she knew Mulder was as well. A week enjoying her aunt's hospitality then a quick jaunt down to Dublin to hook up with one of Mulder's old Oxford pals, a professor at one of the museums there, seemed just what the doctor ordered. She hoped he'd be okay though as he'd started sneezing on the plane no sooner than he'd clipped his safety belt in place. Just his luck to get sick now but he'd assured her that it was nothing a slug of real Irish whiskey wouldn't cure. There was a plan for an excursion to the famous Bushmills distillery on their schedule among other things, although Mulder admitted that was partly coerced by Skinner who promised them an extra week off if he could bring him back a bottle of the world class liquor all the way from its Irish roots.

"You've been to Ireland before haven't you Mulder?"

"Sure... er only the once. When I was at Oxford."

"So how come I've never heard about this"  
She teased as he led them both to a place to eat and drink. All the travel and excitement of exploring a new country had given them both a raging appetite."

"Er, I don't remember much of it," Mulder admitted as he reached inside his leather jacket pocket for his tissues.

"A group of us came over for a Thin Lizzy gig at the Point in Dublin. But..."

Scully grinned; she guessed what was coming by the look that passed over his face. "But...? "

"A couple of us had a few pre gig whiskies and we er...never made it out of the bar. Couldn't find the guy with the tickets either."

"So what happened?" SHe smiled and the usual eyebrow manoeuvre came into play... he wasn't going to get out of this easily. Was that her usually inuendous partner blushing? This was going to be good.

"Ended up waking in a part of Dublin called Ferrytown. Some joker thought it would be a blast to dump us 'mainlanders' down by the dockside. We were all over from Oxford. I guess the old English/Irish rivalry thing, and I got lumped in with them seeing as I couldn't utter two intelligent words being shitfaced at the time, so they pegged me as English too. Guilt by association. Anyway next day, massive hangovers all round, freezing rain and ...no pants."

Scully tried to keep a straight face as he pantomimed getting a chill up his spine.

"No pants? You were mugged and they took your pants? Mulder ..."

"...And well er... we were duct-taped to a lamp post. Hey, it was no fun and fucking freezing. It was like some Stephen King horror version of the 'Commitments' only with crappier weather and no music ...what?"

Mulder gave her a baleful, 'I'll get you for this', expression as his partner started to laugh that silly, open laugh she indulged herself in on the rare occasions that she felt really happy.

Something suddenly dissolved inside him.  
almost a flashback, a sense of gestalt and he looked at her stupidly, thoughts going in a million different directions.  
It startled him to realize that that hadn't happened in a very long time. His eyes started to well up and he thought with alarm if he didn't get a hold of his emotions he might start crying right here in the middle of a bustling airport.  
He felt a small warm hand slip into his.

" Mulder?"

He sniffed loudly and feigned a cough before he looked her in the eye again. Feeling stupid and overwhelmed and not quite grasping all the reasons why, his hand squeezed her fingers back and forced a smile. This vacation would be a good one for them both, he would make damn sure of it. Whatever she wanted to do, or go and visit they would do it. This was her time more than his, after all they'd been through and all she had suffered on a personal level lately, his heart still bled like an open wound for all that.

He felt this need to make it up to her, to be with her and enjoy just being like any other loving couple for once. The thought of Aunt Katherine's remote cottage with a real peat fire and warm nights snuggled up with his partner under an old eiderdown listening to the sea crashing wildly on the shore was very appealing. It sounded very old fashioned and romantic... Something he desperately wanted to give the woman he loved with all his heart. A chance maybe to redefine and enhance their relationship.

"C'mon, I'm starving, lets try out the local food seeing as we have a bit of time before your aunt arrives."

O'Malley's bar was a cheery place and predictably regaled with St Patrick's Day shamrocks, cut out leprechauns and Irish flags. A large plasma screen TV showed some kind of news show frequently interrupted by rugby scores accompanied by bouts of cheering enthusiasm, and adverts for Guinness. Scully was mesmerised by the quaint charm of it all and even more amused when Mulder came back from the bar with two Irish coffees to go with their shepherd's pies. Scully tucked in with gusto, secretly glad he didn't get her a green Guinness. Mulder had made several teasing speculative remarks about what odious ingredients or chemicals went into it to get it that color and it was starting to make her feel slightly green, never mind the brew.

Mulder was enjoying watching her eat. She just seemed to worry less about what she ate abroad, it was good to see her enjoy real food as opposed to the limp lettuce bunny diets and fads she usually indulged in back home. He got the impression from what his partner and Maggie had told him about Katherine that the old girl liked to cook and look after her guests. It would be just great to watch Scully getting some more wholesome food inside her and he wasn't exactly immune to the joys of home cooked food either. Make a nice change from take out Chinese or pizza. Blowing his nose he looked around the bar. It was fun and comforting in atmosphere but he didn't have the heart to tell Scully that O'Malley's was a big international franchise; like an upmarket McDonalds or Starbucks and there was one of these in almost every airport in Europe.

The real Ireland lay just beyond the airport confines and he made a silent wish for Katherine to appear very soon so they could go start their vacation and exploration of this alluring country with all its history and mystical Gaelic charm. He couldn't wait to meet Scully's aunt and see how much of his Scully was in the older woman. From all accounts they were all made from the same feisty, strong and wonderful stock he knew and loved; the apples never fell far from the tree no matter where in the world the woman in his lover's family hailed from. It was an x file in itself... okay a small one, he mused.

No sign of her yet, though Mulder knew in his bones he would recognize Katherine the instant he laid eyes on her. Scully's sapphire gaze caught him pondering and damn; she'd eaten all her lunch and still looked hungry. He gave her his best feral grin as he got up from the table.

"They do a great Death by Chocolate in here Scully."

"I could really do a good Death by Chocolate right now. Bring it on Mulder."

continued in part 2


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimers in part one. This story is finished

Great Aunt Katherine didn't disappoint. She greeted them both warmly and enveloped them both in a gentle hug. Mulder grinned like a fool much to Scully's chagrin, over his casual profiling of the kindly white haired woman in glasses, the quintessential wax jacket and wellingtons.

She may have been knocking on seventy but she was still a tough well built woman, with a sharp mind and she had Scully's eyes. She'd have been a looker back in the day. Still was.

" Aww, Fox, Dana... So glad you could come visit an old woman. At long last we get to meet. I've heard so much about you from Maggie among others."

"Oh Dear..." Mulder chewed on his bottom lip.

"No, no dear, to be sure young man, it's all good. She always enthuses on how much you love and look after my great niece. Welcome to Northern Ireland. Come..."

"Well Mulder I guess I don't have to introduce you. Your reputation preceeds you. " Scully laughed taking his hand as they followed her out towards her car.

" Of Course not, MF. Luder right?" The old woman threw over her shoulder with a wicked twinkle in her eye.

"Close your mouth Mulder. " Scully teased her partner as he stared after her.

They stowed their cases and bags in the back of the rustic old Austin, which looked like it had one wheel in the scrap heap but Katherine shared none of their scepticism about its ability to fire up. Which it did. It made a loud noise like a dull roar and for an awful moment Mulder thought it might take off vertically, but Scully's aunt smiled sagely, inviting them to climb in.

Co Antrim coast road near Ballycastle. Two hours later.

Feeling the effects of jetlag they remained snuggled up together holding hands. Mostly quiet in the back of the car, just drinking in the March sun and enjoying the rich scenery as Katherine drove through winding verdant hills and black basalt rocky terrain, capped in the distance by the mountains of Mourne which gave way to a patchwork of fields, steep outcrops and sloping valleys down to the wild rolling waves of the Atlantic ocean. The sea almost came up to meet them as they dipped down one hill and then the next until finally, a solitary white stonewashed farmhouse with a dark slate roof came into view overlooking the white rollers of the ocean.

Mulder felt Scully's infectious excitement and heard himself gasp at the natural beauty of the place. He wound the windows down a bit more so they could breathe in the fresh salty air. In the fields behind and adjacent to the sprawling house, a variety of sheep dotted the green pastures and slopes painting a tranquil landscape. The wind was mild and the sun streaked across the wide bay like jewels on white horses. There didn't seem to be anything else around for miles.

"There she is, Black Rock Cottage. It's not really a farm, more of a small holding, but we get by. I like it here, it's quiet... Mostly," Katherine gave them a lopsided grin and a wink which Mulder tucked away for future reference.

"It's lovely. Have you lived here long? "

" Oh a few years to be sure...thanks, just about home now. There we are," she took a particularly fast flip over the animal grid at the gate which almost made Scully loose her lunch and Mulder started to sneeze, then they pulled up outside the pretty farmhouse with a sort of afterthought lurching splutter from the engine. It shuddered to a stop making gravel fly in all directions, just missing a couple of geese and chickens which clucked in panic and dove for cover.

"Here we are then," Scully's aunt grinned, seemingly unphazed. "..welcome to my home, it was our dream home actually...mine and your Great Uncle Ned's..." Katherine looked out across to sea a moment, suddenly somewhere else. Then she turned and smiled remembering her visitors. Mulder was heading for the back of the car. "Leave the bags there in the boot dear, we can get them later. Lets get inside, you must be tired the both you. Need to get the dinner on and some tea in yous."

"Boot?" Scully looked to Mulder for guidance.

"She means the trunk." He whispered back, giving her ass a playful slap as she walked alongside him.

"Ah okay. Stop that already." He just gave her one his best fake wounded puppy dog looks.

Once inside the house a large fat black Labrador ambled over, tail wagging like a propeller,he tried to taste them all. Pleased to see his mistress but also equally ecstatic about the new visitors. Mulder crouched down and happily found himself surrounded in slobbery doggy kisses. What a big kid, Scully thought. She knew Mulder would love getting a dog of their own and they had toyed with idea a few times, but with their schedule and frequent trips out of town...

"That's Merlin. Fat, overfed little bugger isn't he? Down boy, let's not lick our visitors to death. I'll put the kettle on. Dana your poor man sounds like he needs something hot inside him. Please make yourselves at home. My house is yours. Loo is that way to the left," She gestured wildly out into the passageway that led to what looked like a large conservatory. "Can't miss it, it's the one with 'Oirish Embassy' on the door." Mulder bit his lip to keep from coughing and snickering at the same time. This was going to interesting.

"I already got something hot," he leaned over and whispered to Scully who retaliated by poking him in the ribs and mouthing 'behave' at him.

"What's that?" Katherine asked, giving them a playful look over the rim of her glasses.

Mulder tried his best to look innocent and suddenly found himself admiring the old lady's teapot collection on the dresser, which was eclectic to say the least. A Dragon candle and a little china alien sat next to each other on one shelf. The alien wore a green trilby and appeared to be smoking a spliff. He almost gave himself whiplash as he did a double take.

Scully blinked and grinned at her partner, after following where his eyes were looking. Her hand snaked around his back in delight and she gave him a squeeze, watching as Katherine set three mugs aside and then put the kettle on the already heated Aga.

"Everyone okay. Dana, Fox..? Tea or Coffee...? Think I got some camomile or peppermint somewhere"  
As if on cue Mulder started to cough and splutter and Katherine shooed them both along the passageway into the bright, spacious living room.

"Thank you so much. You have a lovely home. Really cosy," They both murmured, looking around at the surprisingly luxurious surroundings and original beams. This was a lot bigger than what Scully imagined. She'd always thought her aunt had a modest lifestyle but this house was gorgeous and yet kept its country cosiness. Perhaps she was better off than she'd thought.

Tired and jetlagged from their flight, Mulder and Scully took full advantage of the stuffed cottage couch in the living room with the massive stone fire place. The soft cushions seemed to swallow them up like big marshmallows as they sank back into them with a grateful sigh. Mulder sneezed again and his eyes started to water. He gave Scully an apologetic look for being ill on their vacation. She smiled back and kissed his forehead.

She was starting to get worried about her partner as he was growing increasingly grey looking and exhausted. His eyes were closed as she sat next to him but she knew he wasn't asleep.

"Sorry Scully."

"For what?"

"Getting..." sneeze... "sick." Mulder sighed as his partner smoothed the fever damp hair from his eyes, he knew she was using it as an excuse to feel his forehead and leaned into her touch. If she kept stroking his head like that he'd drift off to sleep in no time.

"It's not your fault Mulder. Although I think from the heat you are giving off right now this might be flu, not a cold. I could fry an egg on your forehead."

"Yeah, just my luck. Hey keep stroking won't you G woman? Feels good." He sighed heavily, more relaxed now.

Katherine breezed in with a tinkering tray of tea and cakes, clearly delighted to have someone to dote on no matter how many germs they were giving off. Mulder cocked one eye open and spotted the chocolate cake. Homemade if he wasn't mistaken. Rousing himself, he sat up to inspect it further. Every part of him screamed in protest, especially his back. He felt wiped but didn't want to seem rude as to fall asleep just after they arrived.

As he took his mug, he watched curiously as his host poured a clear liquid into his tea. He looked up into Katherine's mischievous gaze.

"This will help kill the germs and make all those nasty aches and pains go away. Bloody airplanes tsk... Tin cans full of nasty germs."

"Umm, maybe but I think I caught this nasty at work. Our boss was lurking behind a manly sized box of tissues and bottle of Cherry Nyquil all week... What's that?"

"Something strong... Irish."

" Unless I'm mistaken that's the wrong color for whisky."

"No this is better. Poitin. I make it myself. For all that ails ya."

"You have a still? " Mulder chuckled with delight as he lifted the mug to his lips, blowing on it while Scully just looked bemused.

The old woman grinned knowingly but then looked slightly worried as her brain slipped into gear.

" Ahh I forgot... you work for that FBI. Ooopse.." She muttered something that sounded rude and Gaelic. " Aw you wouldn't be slapping the cuffs on an old woman now would ya?"

To Mulder's chagrin she offered him her wrists in supplication, eyes full of apprehension. He laughed, and sipped gingerly at his tea, and touching her hand with his own to reassure.

The stuff had a real kick to it and he sipped more of it, feeling better as it went down. It was instant relief on his throat and down into his chest while he felt his eyes water and nose clear for the first time that day.

"No no.. its okay... , we left our guns and cuffs back at home. Your, er secret is safe with us." He indicated to the bottle for her to add a touch more and Katherine tipped a little in. "Though we may have to arrest you if you say there's no more of that cake."

"Would that not be a bribe now agent Mulder?"

Scully's eyebrows rose but she grinned, thinking how wonderful and endearing her great aunt was in the flesh despite her predilection for illegal hobbies. She looked forward to discovering more about her in the next few days and she knew; by the entranced gaze on Mulder's sleepy face that he adored her already. He even let her call him 'Fox'.

"No Tylenol for you Mulder, I don't want to have to scrape you off the ceiling later. " She picked up the bottle of Poitin and sniffed it, recoiling when the potent liquor stung her nasal passages. " Well , I think from the strength of this stuff it will have any bugs running for the hills in short order. Wooh."

"Try some Scully...when in Ireland.." Mulder urged. For all of two seconds Scully's features creased as if see-sawing with some inner conflict.

"Umm, I guess we are far enough from the long fingers of the law. Maybe ..." To Mulder's surprise and her aunt's obvious delight she took a swig, then another just to make sure. Her eyes went a curious shade of blue and widened until her mouth formed a surprised 'oh' as the warmth spread through her. Mulder watched in awe, shoving a large hunk of cake in his mouth. "..That was great..." Came the squeak from her throat.

" Good craic eh, winters are hard up here on the coast." Katherine explained as she put the cap back on the bottle. " It's a great place, paradise in the summer... But aye, the winters are something else. You need a pioneer spirit to manage up here and well... my bones are not what they used to be. This helps a lot, thaws out the marrow a treat. More tea? "

Katherine, cleared away the last of the plates and mugs and vanished into the kitchen. A moment or two later she returned and went through the ritual that brought the fire to life, throwing on plenty of wood and peat blocks to last the night. The room upstairs hadn't been used in a while. Not since...

She lingered a moment to watch the flames flicker over the room off the many crystals adorning her mantelpiece, more especially the faces of her sleepy visitors making her lips turn up in a smile. It was late afternoon but bless, the trip must have exhausted them, and Dana's young man not being well either. Only sound in the room was the grandfather clock's dull ticking and Fox's wheezing, which seemed to be worse now then when they'd first arrived. She vowed to look through her pantry and see what she could find to ease him.

Dana had mentioned to her in passing when they were in the kitchen that when poor Fox got a cold now it almost always went to his chest. It bothered her a lot, although her niece wouldn't admit it but you could read it in her eyes as clear as day. Maggie had mentioned the dark haired handsome man frequently in their chats and in that same caring simpatico that one might their own child. Talked about how much he loved her daughter and how his job always seemed to render him injured and hospitalised a lot. Probably kept her niece's doctoring skills sharp and true. In just a few hours Katherine could see why he had captured the hearts of both mother and daughter and was well on his way to snagging hers. Those dark eyelashes like smudged crescents against his cheeks were to die for...

She sighed and picked up the tray with Merlin at her heels on the way to the kitchen.

She'd leave them be for now and go make dinner. Something warming and delicious. No takeout up here in the wilds, she thought with amusement. These young professional couples today, too busy to eat properly and all that. She'd soon sort them out with some decent home cooked food.

end part two 


	3. Chapter 3

echoes part 3 (disclaimer in part one)

Scully wasn't sure what woke her up, whether it was the worsening noises from Mulder's chest or that odd dream she had about a crack in the earth opening up and swallowing her whole. A scream or loud boom seemed to punctuate things at one point and she jerked forward with a start, her shoeless feet making contact with soft carpet bringing her back to the present. Where was she? ...oh yes. Ireland, her aunt's cottage with its many eccentricities and candles. Dream catchers and crystals catching the sun, making dancing prisms on the stucco walls. If it had just been a dream why were her ears still ringing? Jetlag her mind supplied, just jetlag and excitement of the last day, weeks even. Probably the prolonged flight that she wasn't used to and that little pocket of worry about her partner that was never far from the surface, but there he was, safe right beside her on the sofa.

Oh she knew it was silly to fuss and fret over the fact he had a cold but each year, now he was getting older and the accumulative effects of more and more injuries meant that before when he used to shrug it all off with just a sniffle and a funny throat for a day or so, now she had to keep a close eye on him when it went to his chest. Since he'd had that last bout of pneumonia the doctor in her and the lover felt on constant tender hooks. Scully rubbed her stiffened arms and touched where he'd drooled on her, then peered carefully at his flushed cheeks. She couldn't help it when her hand reached out to touch his brow anymore than she could stop herself breathing. He was burning up, heat radiating out of him like a pyre into the air. It was when she bent over him to undo his shirt a little more that she saw it. A little black furry face peered out from under his right arm. Scully couldn't help but smile. She'd often told him he had animal magnetism and this just proved it.

"You're okay with cats aren't you Dana? Forgot to ask your Ma. Not allergic or anything?" Scully turned on hearing Katherine's voice and smiled, shaking her head. The old lady put down another tray of steaming tea and best china. Tea seemed a panacea for everything just like her Mom used to say but there the similarity between her and her great aunt ended, except for perhaps the eyes. "I'm fine with cats; I love all animals, so does Mulder. No allergies... we're fine thanks." She got up to help her with the tray and cutting yet another delicious looking cake.

"That's good then. Seamus was always a man's cat." She gestured to Mulder's sleeping form with fondness as they set the small table with the tray. "Ned found him in a quarry as a small kitten and brought him home. They were inseparable ..." Scully watched her aunt's eyes cloud slightly until they resembled the grey sky outside, but only for a few beats. "I think he still misses him. The scent of a man and the way Ned would pet him... Looks like he's found a new friend there." Her aunt's eyes lingered out at the sea landscape through the windows, momentarily lost in thought. Eyes fixed on an imaginary spot in her memory only her aunt could see. Scully turned away and let her have her privacy. Seamus opened one languid green eye and blinked at her watching her intently, when Mulder started coughing.

The cat, sensing his warm sleeping spot might move at any minute stretched his claws across his human cushion's chest, jumped down and shimmied a few rotations around Scully's legs before mewling and bolting off in the direction of the kitchen where gorgeous smells were emanating.

Mulder stirred and didn't wake but Scully, the doctor never far from the surface went to check on him, placing her fingers gently on his wrist. Observing how his pulse jumped about in his throat. Oh Mulder.

"He should be in bed for sure. Looks all done in. You look after that man... love like that is a precious thing. Redwood among sprouts, think I heard that expression once."

"Yes, yes he is ..." Scully agreed, smiling at the old woman's expression, but her touch never leaving Mulder wrist, wondering where she had heard that before too.

"Aye, I put you in the big room.Nice big satalite Tv in case mulder doesn't feel well enough to get up. There's an open hearth up there too so you will be nice and warm. Mild for March I know but nights can be glacial."

" Mulder will appreciate the Tv, beleive me. I hope we're not putting you out of your bed."

"Eh, No, it's a big house but since I have to be up at the crack of dawn to tend to the animals and birds I don't want to disturb you. I sleep down here mostly. I also snore enough to wake the dead. I wouldn't wish that on me worst enemy. Like sucking porridge through a straw, it is. Besides, don't want to disturb you young folks if you want a ..erm, lie in when I have to get up at the crack of dawn." Katharine gave her a knowing wink on her way back to the kitchen. Scully bit her bottom lip as brushed Mulder's hand with her own before standing to follow her.

"Thanks. Oh I'm sorry katherine, my manners.  
Can I help, do you need me to do anything in the kitchen?"

"Eh,no dear. Got it covered."

Once in the kitchen Scully reached into her pants pocket and took out her cell phone.

"I just looked at the time; I better call my mom and let her know we got here in once piece. I never meant to sleep that long. All that heat pouring off Mulder made me doze off. " She frowned when it came up 'no signal'. She put it away again.

"Oh I'm sorry Dana," Katharine turned to her while she stirred something on the stove. " I forgot to mention, you can't get a cell phone to work for love nor money up here. The house phone too is a hit or miss affair if it has a tantrum and won't work. One of the joys of living in the sticks. But.." she grinned as she waved her cooking spoon in the air suddenly, " we have the internet as you know. A godsend out here and keeps an old woman company when the nights are dark and lonely. Why not email your Ma and let her know you've arrived. I'll just go fire up the lappy for ya. I'll be in the study, you stir? " She handed her niece the spoon and wiped her hands down her apron.

"Thanks I will." Scully took over the cooking duty and startled a little when she heard someone behind her.

Mulder came yawning into the kitchen as Katherine vanished into another room somewhere. Arms stretched above his head, he let his back and sore muscles reach some semblance or normality, his spine noisily clicking into place before yawning again. Scully thought he looked like hell,  
all bleary eyed and red nosed.

He grinned goofily at her. She loved him all the more then because he looked so cute with a tuft of hair sticking up like a Peruvian guinea pig and rucked up socks working their way off his feet. She pushed aside the urge to wet her fingers and tamp his hair back down. Instead he slipped two warm arms around her waist as she continued stirring the soup, rocking against her and nuzzling her neck with almost day old stubble. She allowed her body to lean back into him, the furnace like heat he was giving off felt good as it seeped through her skin and felt a pang of guilt about that. She was worried still but at least he was up and about. The proverbial walking wounded.

"Hey."

"Hey, yourself, good sleep? You okay?"

"Aha. Sorta. Whatcha cooking me woman?"

"Mulder... if you value your testicles.  
speaking of which, is that your cell phone or are you happy to see me?"

"Umm, guess." Hot fingers sought the edge of her shirt until he found skin, tickling her midriff just barely. She almost dropped the spoon.

He loved it when she squirmed.

"You're happy to see me or that's not your cell phone? ...Which doesn't work here by the way. Katherine's just setting up her laptop so I can email mom and let her know we got here intact. You know how she worries... especially at the moment." Mulder squeezed her shoulder softly and they decided it was time to check in.

" Ack...fein truailleathoir," Katherine muttered none too quietly while viewing a website on the current US elections. Shaking her head, she clicked on a window and Bush's grinning countenance vanished from the screen to be replaced by a desktop image that made Mulder's jaw drop and Scully start to snicker.

" What the... Scully, please tell me that's a figment of my fevered imagination?"

"What?"

"Um..." Mulder pointed at the screen.

" Ahh ..." Scully's aunt's turned to them and her face broke out in a grin that made Mulder think of that song, 'When Irish eyes are smiling'. "you mean Melvin, my E-pal? Such a lovely man, I subscribed to his Lone Gunmen publication a while back. We got chatting, a few emails back and forth don't ya know and then...one thing lead to another and...well, we...er have a guilty pleasure." She intoned like she was divulging a never to be heard secret.

"Oooh," Mulder's hand flew to his stomach, making a noise as if in pain while his partner's eyes blew up like saucers.

"We play Battleships on msn messenger on Wednesday nights. Keeps a lonely old gal company he does a treat. Very intelligent man, so charming and knowledgeable too. A real gentleman. He also told me about a T2 connection for faster surfing. Got one installed last winter. Just so when the phones go out in the gales out we get up here we still have the World Wide Web." The old woman enthused.

Did she really sigh at the end of that speech?

Scully stifled a giggle against her partner's shoulder. It was surely the most goofy and somewhat sleazy snap she had ever seen of Mulder's height challenged buddy, and the notion that he knew her aunt was just too funny on so many levels. She was willing to bet they even swapped cheese steak recipes or Fro's asbestos chilli. She wasn't sure at this stage whether Mulder would faint with shock or break out into hysterics. He stood there open mouthed, chest heaving slightly, eyes watering with the urge not to cough. His expression a curious mix of stupefaction and mirth.

"Battleships?...Wednesdays nights?"

Katherine gave him a coy shrug. "Aye."

"Katherine... I think that as a serving FBI officer, it would be a grave dereliction of my sworn duties for me not to warn you about the dangers of befriending strange men on the internet."

"And they don't come much stranger than that one", Scully quipped under her breath as she stared at the grinning image of Frohike, giving his teeth some fresh air, and that all too familiar leer. It was just too much. But it was when Mulder whispered in her ear that his geeky friend was the original poster boy for 'Leprechaun's Life' and beat Tom Cruise to the punch, that her hand flew to her face as she suddenly lost all composure.

Katherine gave a curious glance first to Scully who was quite red in the cheeks and beside herself, then to Mulder's dead pan expression which threatened to buckle any moment.

"Oh ya know him then?"

After dinner...

"You okay Mulder? " Scully asked after her partner's prolonged bout of coughing after their meal, a big hearty stew with lamb and potatoes.

"Yeah... just tired but if I go to bed now I'll keep you awake with my snuffling and tossing and turning and I won't sleep. Might get some fresh air before I turn in."

Katherine made some more tea and Scully watched her tip some more poitin into Mulder's mug when he nodded, and then leaving the bottle on the table. Anywhere else this would have seemed so odd; the thought of illegal alcohol so openly displayed but here in this wild corner of Northern Ireland, amidst the warm charm and the company of her eccentric, very, she corrected herself, relative. It all seemed so relaxed and natural. She guessed Melissa had to get her new agey-ness from somewhere. She wondered if her sister had ever met her aunt. She had been a free spirit and she'd certainly travelled enough. Perhaps she could bring herself to ask...

In later years when Melissa had been out of touch with her family, little snatches of her were very precious and Scully thought wistfully that it would be wonderful to find a few tucked away here on the Irish coast she hadn't yet discovered. Later.

Right now she was too concerned about Mulder; his cough seemed to worsen as the hours ticked by. He was wheezing most of the time now. Good job she'd packed her Mulder kit, she figured any hospital was probably some way from here should the need arise. She'd grabbed some extra supplies at the airport drugstore when they'd landed...just in case. Looked like it was a good call. Her sick partner was almost dead on his feet but was currently deep in a study of Katherine's huge bookshelf. Literally a whole wall devoted to a plethora of reading matter; hardbacks, leather-bound rarities, everything and anything.

Scully could imagine him mentally cataloguing each book as he muttered the titles to himself in his steel trap profiler mind. She loved watching him like this, he was mesmerising at times. Like when they made love, every thought, every facial expression conveyed so much about his soul. A million different nuances crossed his features in a heatbeat, she normally only got to see this intensity when he was working a crime scene but tonight this was pure joy instead of the deep sorrow she often saw sifting across his eyes. She sighed, long ago she realised that he entranced her like no other person on earth. For the first time in a long time he seemed happy too.

Tolkien, Von Daniken, Hawking, John Mack, Pratchett, MF LUDER, that last one made his smile reach his eyes. Each new title he fingered or discovery, made him evaluate and re-evaluate his wonderful host until this enigma that was Katherine left an indelible mark on his heart. Mulder was always surprised and a little startled when this happened as it was rare and unexpected. It gave him hope.

It also made him curious.

What was Katherine doing up here out of the way in such a desolate spot? Scully had mentioned that her aunt had originally come from Dublin but her uncle was from the north. Sure it was beautiful but also lonely for an old woman all on her own. She seemed tied to the place by something he couldn't quite put his finger on, like an invisible thread was holding her to this mystic land. If her literary collection was a clue he felt a kindred spirit. So far, only he'd spotted the Bajoran earring that dangled from the older lady's left ear. The Vulcan salute he'd given her by way of acknowledgement made Katherine beam from ear to ear and pull him into a hug. He could just imagine the eye roll Scully would have made had she not been in the bathroom at the time.

But what about Ned? His partner hadn't been able to remember how Ned had died, no one in her family had ever mentioned any details. It was like some unspoken mystery, as if he'd vanished off the face of the earth... like ...like Sam.

No he wasn't going down that road.  
For once and it shocked even him to realise it, that he was trying to avoid the paranormal.

He was bursting to ask questions but he had to remember this wasn't one of his X files investigations, this was Scully's aunt and he had detected the tell tale signs of some underlying heartbreak or melancholy about her that went deeper and further back than the loss of her husband. Something he ultimately identified with because of his own past. Empathic strands that streaked out into the ether and latched on to other damaged souls like his as if magnetised. Like a quickening, a wire in the blood...

This lady was so motherly, like she lived to care for people... Like his Scully, came the little voice in his head.

Did they have kids? No photos to be seen.There was no mention save for the few mementos dotted here and there around this house. A couple of things on the mantle in pride of place that had the look of being crafted by a child's hand. His mother had done the same when his sister ...at least until she could no longer bear to look at them, or the things he'd made her.

He came back to the dining table and took a sip of his tea, forcing himself to try and relax. Letting the warm potent brew ease down his throat and spread warm fingers into his chest. Closing his eyes for a few seconds he took a deep breath and looked up to find the object of his ruminations, and his lover gazing at him with twin looks of concern.

"I'm okay really... the pair of you..," he let out a small laugh and saluted them both with his tea mug. Then he doubled over with a sudden attack of coughing dropping the mug to the floor. Scully was at his side in an instant and guiding him over to the couch where he slumped back against the cushions. "Okay. Perhaps ...perhaps I've overdone things with this cold." His voice was a painful squeak over his lips when it tumbled out.

" Oh you think Mulder? That's no cold. I want you in bed very soon."

"Ooh Agent Scully, eager much. Going to undress me as well eh? Wanna kiss my Blarney stone?" He whispered the last part all hot and breathy against the shell of her ear.

"Mulder..." Exasperated, Scully flashed a look in her aunt's direction only to meet the older woman's amused wink and dammit if she didn't raise her eyebrow in just the same way as his partner. Out gunned and outnumbered, Mulder thought on the edge of another rib shattering cough.

Katherine chuckled and walked over to the mantle where she lit several long white candles, an incense stick, and then carefully took a moment to select and pick something up.

"Here Fox," Mulder gave her a curious look as she opened her hand and pressed the crystalline object into his palm. "Amber; good for the breathing. Just hold it and let its energy warm you."

He held it to his chest and unfurled his hand looking at the gold facet, turning it over and rubbing his thumb down the hard edge. It felt tingly. His mind recalled the dangling crystal held over Scully's lifeless body by her older sister Melissa almost a lifetime ago and felt a frisson of pain in the area of his heart. Still raw after all these years.

The dog came whimpering into the living room about the same time the house lights flickered, they settled and then stayed on. Merlin plonked himself down at Mulder's feet, a doleful look in his eyes.

"Wind's picking up again. Going to be a foul night." Katherine muttered, picking up the broken mug and patting the Labrador on the head. After a moment or two, whether it was the effects of the amber nugget spreading tendrils of earth energy into his lungs or not, he was slowly starting to regain his breath now and it evened out. Scully looked on, damp around the eyes with unspoken apology, fingers on the pulse in his wrist with her usual trademark 'ten seconds and I call the paramedics' stalker stance at his side.

Mulder wanted to kiss her stupid because he was ruining their trip but thought his lungs might rebel again. Seamus suddenly made a surprise appearance and leapt up on the sofa with a noisy greeting that sounded like a finger dragged down a balloon, making them all jump. Green eyes blinked giving the humans the once over before camping down in his new male friend's comfortable lap, purring away like a motorbike. Mulder moved his empty hand over to stroke him, kneading his fingers in the soft fur. Unbidden, he thought about stroking Scully...'oopse better not go down that road either'...the cats claws were digging in somewhere delicate.  
'um later' he pondered. "Feeling better now."

"You sure you're not allergic to cats Fox?"

"No not at all. I just don't understand it. Maybe I'm not used to the damp."

"But it's damp in DC Mulder." Scully countered.

"Well maybe Irish damp is different...I dunno.  
I'll be okay but we are going to do all we said we'd do on this trip, Giant's causeway, Bush mills, Dunluce castle and our 7th President's ancestral home...all of that. I'm ok. Really. Scully, life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass, it's about learning to dance in the rain."

"Dancing in the rain will definitely put you in the hospital." Sometimes he was infuriating enough to chip her teeth ... but then he gave her that puppy dog, doe eyed look and she just melted. Reaching over she pushed a lock of damp hair out of his eyes and he pressed a kiss to her fingers as they lay against his cheek.

He wished he had a hand to free to touch her with right then but he was addicted to the cat's purring vibration and it was soothing against his chest, as was the now blood hot crystal. He was so exhausted and sitting very still and chilling seemed like a good idea.

Scully leaned forward as if she had heard his thoughts and kissed his cheek. "This could turn into pneumonia if we're not careful ...I don't like this. The last time..."

"The last time it was different circumstances.. I got better...you're a doctor, and I'll happily let you play doctor on me, you know you really get off on that," He quipped with a wicked glint in his eye. " but I am not going be cooped up indoors the whole time over the next few weeks either. We came all this way to Ireland and I want to see it all with you, together. I'll even wear an extra pair of bootlaces if it will make you happy.. or borrow one of your aunt's Arran sweaters but I am not going be an invalid hanging about like a spare wiener at a bar mitzvah."

Katherine cleared her throat, hands on her hips, doing a pretty decent impression of Maggie Scully. "Men! You silly bugger. Your uncle Ned used to be that mulish too. Remember that for future reference Dana, a kick up the arse does wonders."

Scully gave her a kilowatt smile at that notion. "Trouble is he'd like that too much, especially if I wore my six inch heels."

" Oohh, You know me so well G woman." He flashed his teeth at her. Just as Mulder finished talking the lights flickered and went out completely leaving their faces shimmering in candlelight. Mulder's eyes shot skyward. Merlin whimpered by his feet as an odd low rumbling noise from outside could almost be felt through the floorboards and clattered against the roof tiles which scared the cat. It suddenly shot off of the warm nest that was Mulder's lap. "Woah what was that?" He yelped, nursing his chest where the cat had stabbed him with her claws as she fled.

" Ufasach...darn it," Katherine, swore loudly as they all listened open mouthed to what sounded like a sonic boom exploding over the house. The old lady got up and shrugged into her heavy coat. "I'll have to go get the generator started."

End part 3 


	4. Chapter 4

Part 4 Echoes (disclaimer in part 1)

"Something tells me that may be a few years too late to be Concorde cruising over." Mulder hauled himself to his feet, his partner with her arm around his back as extra support. "I'll come out with you."

"No, no, you'll catch your death, I'll manage, been doing it for years. You sit relax, keep warm."

"Katherine, if you think I'm letting you go by yourself out there after that..." Mulder was adamant and he saw the old lady mulling it over for all of ten seconds before she finally caved.

"Ah, macho pride. I'll play. This time. Okay, but wrap up well... its freezing and you're already sick."

"Mulder, I'm coming too," Scully insisted, her eyes flashed him a look he knew too well. One that brooked no argument. What worried her most then was that not only was her lover's spooky radar going off, but her's had kicked as well. Mulder was right. No way were they letting Katherine go out there alone.

"Do you have any idea what that was Katherine?" Mulder ventured, donning the thick blue parka the older lady handed him in the hall. "..because I don't know about you but with some of the stuff I've seen.., what Scully's seen, that scores a ten on my weird-shitometer."

"Let's just say that up here...you have to expect the unexpected. Here..." She picked up two torches and handed him one. Scully zipped her coat up and snagged the other one.

"I thought the house was going to crack in two.  
Are we on an earthquake fault here? I mean the land formations and stuff by the causeway must have been forged from tectonic disturbance at some point in history. I know there was an earthquake in England recently ... but wasn't sure about this area."

"No seismic activity in Antrim that I know of and I've been here a good few years now, and lived in Derry and Belfast during the troubles long enough to know that this wan't a bomb. Too well acquainted with those ...but this coast,.. there have always been ...well," Katherine's mind searched for an appropriate phrase as she opened the back door to the wind swept courtyard. "folklore, odd lights in the sky, strange unatural cries from the beaches. You know the legend of Fionn mac Cumhail?" He nodded as her words were almost snatched away as a gust wind whirled around their heads.

The air was electric, it smelled of ozone and something Mulder couldn't quite put his finger on. Whatever it was, the almost fetid damp was seeping down into his chest and he could feel the air being squeezed tight against his ribs. Was that a scream in his mind or the wind? It was like it was mocking him, laughing at his expense. It felt...odd, making the hair stand up on his neck.

They staggered about in the buffeting wind as they all hurried across the courtyard to one of the barns that housed the generator. Mulder sandwiched in between Scully on one side and her aunt on the other, holding them both for dear life lest they blow away. There was some light from the full moon but as their torchlight raked the cobbled pathway and when he flicked it up a touch he just made out a faint green haze above the far cliff top about three miles away up the gully and what looked like an electrical storm dying out to sea. Weird Lightning? It looked so eerie and after all that noise he half expected to see aliens or a UFO hovering over the bay.

"Mulder...you okay," came his partner's voice through the gloom.

"Yeah.." Mulder found his breath and shone the torch trying to locate the door handle. After finding it stuck fast he managed to shoulder it open for them and they all blustered inside. Momentarily rendered breathless by the blasts of wind all round them, they stood still for a moment to catch their breath listening to the wind making an unearthly evil sound like a dying creature circling all around the barn. Almost like it had stalked them from the house over here. " Fionn mac Cumhail,the legend about the Giant's causeway and how it was forged is well documented. I had to do a paper on it in college. Took a fill in class for mythology."

"Really? Is that the giant that supposedly created the causeway by hurling rocks at another giant in Scotland?" Scully asked, shivering in the cold as she watched her partner get all manly with the generator.

"Yeah Scully, that's him." Mulder worked on the generator as he reached into his eidetic memory for the story. "As the legend goes an Irish Giant (read alien bounty hunter) lived on an Antrim headland and one day when going about his daily business, a Scottish Giant named Fingal began to shout insults, hurl abuse and flip him the bird from across the channel. Quite close to here actually. Angry Dude Finn lifted a clod of earth and threw it at the giant as a challenge, the earth landed in the sea.

Fingal pitched a rock thrown back at Finn and shouted that Finn was lucky that he wasn't a strong swimmer or he would have made sure he could never fight again or father future generations. Well, Finn was kinda pissed off and began lifting huge clumps of earth from the shore, throwing them so as to make a pathway for the Scottish giant to mosey on over in person and open up a can of whup ass. However, ...however, by the time he finished doing an Extreme makeover, coastal edition on the crossing he hadn't slept for a week and so instead devised a cunning plan to fool the Scot, and remembered not to bend down anywhere near Michael Moloney. "  
"What? ...More Mulder more!" Scully waggled the torch at him unable to hide her laughter.  
Mulder grabbed it from her and stuck it under his chin making a creepy caricature of himself.  
He pulled a silly face and went cross-eyed then took a deep breath as he turned his attention back to his work and his storytelling.  
"I'm getting to that..." he grunted as he tried to force the spanner under the bolt to free it on the generator side panel but it just wouldn't budge. He feared it was rusted up, probably from the perpetually damp air.

"Sooo, Finn disguised himself as Fro... I mean a baby in a cot and when his adversary came to face him, Finn's wife told the Giant that Finn was away at the Consortium karaoke marathon with CGB but showed him his son sleeping in the cradle with a big green pacifier in its mouth. The Scottish giant became apprehensive, for if the son was so huge,... cast that dirty thought from your mind Scully, ..what size would the father be?  
In his haste to escape, Fingal sped back along the causeway Finn had built, tearing it up and farting up a storm as he went. He is said to have fled to a cave on Staffa which is to this day named 'Fingal's Cave' where he stayed forever, discovered Ratboy hiding out there...and had enjoyed baby back rat rib barbecues and later moved into a disused warehouse with two ditzy guy pals in Anacostia.Ughhhhh ow...!"

" You can be so cruel Mulder...but funny all the same, especially the 'Michael Moloney' part. I swear though, the next time I see the guys ... I'm going to get them to spike your cheese steaks with jalapenos."

" Ughh, okay then... think Kersh and Skinman duking out their Mojo either side of the Potomac with big manly bollards." He smirked into her flashlight beam, waggling his eyebrows, despite how tired he was.

" Somehow that's worse..."

"How you doing Fox?" Katherine coughed lightly, enjoying the banter, chuckling to herself... but feeling awkward that Fox was doing himself in while out here in the cold when it should be her job. Why it wasn't working she had no idea. It normally fired up right away.

"Err it seems to be stuck," he grunted, trying hard not to cough up a lung. "either that or the bee pollen Scully made me try the other day robbed me of my Mojo." Turning to grin at her while he kicked viciously at the start handle of stubborn prehistoric contraption.

"Mulder I have better, more inventive ways to make you lose your Mojo. Keep that up and no Cherry Nyquil max strength for you."

" Oooh, hey 'Pervy is sexy' Scully." This time Katherine laughed loudly and rolled her eyes.

Another loud crack overhead and the generator shook to life in a hail of sparks and Mulder who had still been tinkering with it, went flying, and landed in a heap a few feet away.

"Mulder!"

"Aw Fox...Fox!"

END PART 4 


	5. Chapter 5

Echoes by truthwebothknow1 Part 5/7 (disclaimer in part one)  
This is a finished story posted over 7 nights.

Shocked, Scully and Katherine flew to his side. Mulder wasn't moving and his eyes were shut.His chest was noticible by its lack of movement.Scully trembled as she felt his neck for a pulse. Sure enough it was there fluttering erratically beneath her fingers and she breathed a sigh of relief, echoed by her aunt who was rubbing Mulder's wrist the other side of him.A sudden cough and a wheeze shook his chest under her hands.

Scully's hands were a flurry of activity as she checked him all over. Feeling the back of his head her fingers touched a knot there. It was then that he groaned and opened one eye, peering at her. The generator purred away in the background punctuated by creaking wood as the wind blew against the barn. He gave her a pained lopsided grin. "Shaken but not stirred agent Scully," he quipped groggily.

"Mulder, thank God, you gave me such a fright."

Coughing he tried to sit up, gingerly reaching behind his head.

" Ow... It worked, hey, I surprise myself sometimes. Woah.. that was some rush."

"You hit your head, steady now. Take it slowly love." Scully helped him to sit upright, shaking a little with shock or he was just cold, she wasn't sure which but she knew either wasn't good. He needed to get warm and rest and that was long overdue. "I think this is enough fun for one night Mulder. Let's get you back to the house."

"So you can have your way with me?"

"You wish. Do you think you can stand."

"Peice of cake..."

Katherine, who was looking sadly at the state of her niece's poor partner tried to shake off her deepening guilt and gave Fox a hand to get him up on his feet. Every muscle in Mulder's body shrieked in protest so much he thought he might throw up any second. It was a slow cold journey back to the house, poor Fox could hardly move.

The Aga in the kitchen gave a welcome blast of hot air as they trudged rain beaten and exhausted,Scully and her aunt flanked the still shaken Mulder.

"Off to bed with ya young man, you earned your rest. Mind how you go now. I'll make you some special cocoa," she winked. He managed a small smile but was floundering and half asleep. His head and chest felt like hell.

"Believe me Katherine, the way I'm feeling right now you'll get no argument from me. Good night."

"Goodnight Fox. I hope you sleep well."

Mulder walked slowly up the stairs to their bedroom, wet cold and coughing up a storm. He was a bit wobbly from his tribulations and being blasted across the barn but he made it to the top with a grunt, Scully behind him, her hand supporting his back as he went.

"You okay Mulder? That was a nasty crack on the head. Maybe you need to go to the hospital." Scully eased her partner down onto the bed and fluffed up the pillows for him. He sank back into them carefully with a sigh as she pulled off his shoes.

"Scully we are a little too far out here for that to be practical. I'll be fine as long as I get some sleep and some of that Cherry flu crap you're hiding in your case. You checked my eyes and they're okay. You can check them again later if you like. I'm just gonna lay on this obscenely comfortable bed and crash." With that he sighed and closed his eyes. Little coughs making his chest stutter and rise as he attempted to get into a more comfortable position.

"You're not going to get out of those damp clothes first?" Scully had fished the Cherry Nyquil out of her luggage and placed it on the bedside table.

Mulder opened one eye and peered at her. "You wanna undress me, Agent Scully?" He leered, which she returned with a seductive expression of her own.

Back in the kitchen

"He's asleep finally." Scully sipped at her mug of steaming cocoa as she stood warming herself by the Aga. Katherine sat at the big oak kitchen table, glasses atop her nose, leafing through a few paranormal magazines.  
"I'm really worried about his cough though, his chest sounds awful. I'm scared the chilling and the shock he got in the barn tonight will make it worse. At least he doesn't have a concussion though, which is a revalation with Mulder's track record." Katherine put down her reading glasses and peered up at her niece.

"We'll keep a close eye on him. Anything serious they might have to airlift him from here. Couple of small Casualty.  
sorry, ER depts to you, even bigger one in Ballycastle, but between the pair of us and that mini drug store you brought with you we should manage. Nice shower?" Scully nodded and sat opposite her great aunt at the table wrapped in a fluffy bathrobe, her hair damp from the shower.

Scully smiled. "Yeah, much better. Thought I'd never get warm again.God knows what Mulder feels like. Just so accident prone."

"He fell on his feet when you came into his life, Dana...that's for sure. You really look after that lovely man. I sense some dark unhappy vibes about him though, it's in his eyes. Such sadness behind all the laughter, a visionary, a seeker of truths, never gives up on miracles. And you love him with everything you have too... Am I right?"

"Oh Yes, with all my heart, he's my soul mate, everything I ever wanted in life...and he's such a caring passionate man. A guy that has literally gone to the ends of the earth for me. Has done and no doubt would do it again." She mused aloud, thinking back to the snowy hell of Antartica. " Mulder is everything I could ever want.I couldn't live without him. He's been through some rough times... unhappy childhood and the loss of his sister, Samantha..." She stopped there, fingers gripping her mug for warmth against a suddent frisson of chill that passed through her. unsure how much to tell her Katherine about Mulder's unhappy past and all the hell they had gone through, these last few years especially. But when she looked into her aunt's eyes she saw only deep understanding as if she had read through her thoughts. 'She's a wise old duck'... her mother's own words came back to her.

"And I bet he couldn't last a day without you either, Dana. I see that in his eyes and his heart, which he wears on his sleeve when he gazes at you, if you hadn't noticed it. He's a catch that's for certain. My Ned was like that, everything to me. He's been gone a while now..." The old woman looked off sadly into space again for a few seconds before turning back her younger companion, a small smile nestling at the edge of her lips. "We won the Irish lotto one year ya know. Back in the late eighties."

"You did? Wow. That's great. A lot?... Oh sorry I shouldn't ask." Scully admonished herself.

Katharine laughed and popped her glasses back on. "No its okay, you can ask, I don't mind saying. Six hundred thousand pounds. A veritable fortune back then.Five numbers and a bonus ball." Scully whistled.

"You moved here about then, did you buy this place with your winnings?"

"Aye, it was about eighteen years ago now, Ned was working in Derry...or Londonderry to you. I was a nurse in Belfast but I would travel back to Derry at night. The height of the troubles at the time and we were sick of it, sick of the religiousness of the city that caused all the troubles... Bombs, checkpoints, armed soldiers on each corner.  
Afraid of being shot at in a crossfire.  
and tired of patching up young people maimed and desecrated by a pointless civil war... For that's what it boiled down to. Just soul destroying. Whole generations wasted because of this stupid feud born of religion that pitched us against each other; father against father, brother against brother. kids orphaned, killed or growing up without their fathers. Divided streets, families... Just went on and on."

She pulled a face and looked away. When she turned back to Scully she had the beginnings of tears in her eyes...

"I'm so sorry..." Scully sipped at her drink.

"Aye well...we had this windfall and got away from it all, a golden opportunity to move up here, so we jumped at the chance and brought this place for a new start. We'd always liked it here. The area calls to us..."

Scully placed her hand over Katherine's,  
listening intently but at the same time keeping an ear out for Mulder upstairs in case he needed her.

"Ned and I are.. how shall I say? A tad unconventional. Most people think we were married but we never got around to it. Surprised you too eh?" She laughed at Scully's raised eyebrow.

"I didn't know."

"Aye well. I'm full of surprises." She winked, "Folks on both sides of our family were disapproving, we were from different sides of fighting tracks if ya get ma drift. A wedding would have meant a punch up somewhere down the line. Soo, instead of trying to deal with all that we came up here to savor life in Antrim. It's always been a dream come true and here," She gestured towards the dark landscape outside the big kitchen window. "we were free to be ourselves. Live off the land, indulge in a few pastimes that would have raised eyebrows back home. Oh nothing mucky Dana," she laughed at the younger woman's inscrutable expression.

"If you have noticed the kind of literature collection I have and the fact that I subscribe to the LGM's Silver Bullet. Well that should give you some idea of the kind of interests we procure. I have been known to go on Paranormal vigils around this headland and get stuck into anything unusual. A bit like your young man upstairs. Quite a revelation meeting the famous and handsome Fox, Spooky Mulder and realising he was the young man you were seeing. The one Maggie was always raving about." She winked.

"I think it's safe to say Mulder noticed"  
Scully laughed getting up to grab some more cake. "This place doesn't disappoint either, what was that going on tonight? If it's not an earthquake what was it? I have never seen orb heard anything like that. Not even on our work on the the X files. Fionn Macuill?" she ventured.

Katherine shook her head and stood up, gazing out the window towards the sea.

"I don't know and that's the truth of it.Its nothing new around here. Ned and I looked into it a great deal. Some people from Dublin University Paranormal dept' came up here to investigate with us but it turned up nothing. People have their pet theories. Old Fionn and his Scottish giant foe, tectonic disruption and a possible new fault forming.  
Even Guia's rebellion against global warming, but its an all year round phenomena. They say some days after the lights and the noises, that the shore looks different some how...not just because the tide is out but its a markedly different landscape... Like a crack in the earth has somehow moved the geography around as if two giants have been throwing rocks...yes I know. It's not just confined to St. Patrick's day as some of the tourists think though. Its bums on seats in pubs round here and sells tickets for the local attractions and general tourism, but on the other hand its scared people off too. During the troubles there was gun running up in the hills around here and the IRA would hide their munitions in the caves. Don't know what happened but something scared them away and that's saying something.Tough angry men and boys."

"Go on."

"Ned listened into a Ham radio channel one night and picked up some odd transmissions. The signal was fractured at times but all he heard about was the bodies on the beach. Grown men crying and talking about bodies, parts of bodies and the rocks. They asked for help which was unusual because they were hiding there, not supposed to be there, most were wanted men...but then things got weird. There were lights in the sky, like the northern lights ya know, vibrations and what felt like aftershocks. Winds that howled like a banshee. Yet when the police and British military went down there a few hours later here was nothing. No bodies, the caves had vanished and there was something else..." Katherine eyes relived alone what she had seen all those years ago and then suddenly she was back.

"That's incredible."

"The sea was red...just red...and then sea had gone. It was gone two days and then it returned. The sands were glowing but when we got close...there were just millions of fish, sea creatures, just gasping for air. Strange...makes the blood chill just thinking about it."

Scully sat and gaped as her aunt went on with her story, watching the old woman shiver in remembrance.

"The rocks...the Causeway... all looked ...I dunno...different somehow. Like a giant hand came down and scooped up a big part of the coast and then kicked it all over the place like it had a tantrum or something. What happened next was even stranger..."

"What?...what was it?"

"About a week after all that and the storms that followed, odd clouds and so on... Well it all came back, the rocks and cliff stacks like they had somehow all snapped back how it was."

Scully felt the shiver right down to her marrow as she recalled another time when something similar had occurred. The Ivory coast of Africa... while poor Mulder lay dying back on a D.C. hospital as she thought of a way to try and find a cure for his brain affliction caused by an alien artefact...the ship. She did the math in her head...could it have been around the same time? She didn't say anything else but planned to talk to Mulder about it later.

"Well Dana, perhaps if Mulder feels up to it the two of you could take a walk with me to the beach tomorrow. Take a look at the Causeway, natural wonder of the world ya know."

Scully nodded..." We'd like that...as long as he's ok. Speaking of Mulder, I better go check on him. I'll take him up some cocoa."

"Eh, dear you do that and oh, I have something here that might help him feel better. My own concoction. Another thing I like to do is wild crafting." She grinned going to her refrigerator. "Here," She handed Scully a dish of something that looked creamy, pale and thick, it gave off a neutral odour. "That should see him right." Scully looked at it curiously like it might suddenly leap out of the bowl.

"Oh thanks, um, do you have any bread I could put this in? I'll take him a sandwich up with his cocoa." Katherine gave her sideways look and peered at her over the rim of her glasses with an amused expression.

"What?"

The old lady shook her head and chuckled a bit before regaining her composure, patting her niece on the shoulder at the expression on the confused young woman's face.

"Oh Dana... It's not for going in bread... his chest dear, its goose grease; you spread it on his chest."

Not surprisingly Mulder was awake when she shouldered her way into the room with tray with cocoa and dish of goose grease, which looked like sickly congealed lard. 'Ewe', she thought. Scully didn't think she had the heart to hurt her aunt's feelings but she just couldn't see Mulder agreeing to submit to such a bizarre old fashioned remedy. Then again...

"Mulder," She called quietly, putting the tray down. She heard the dog bounding up the stairs and into the room behind her, he jumped on the bed and looked profoundly comfortable, if not pleased with himself.

Her lover had his back to her, dressed just in boxers, staring out of the window. Every so often he would cough, a deep rattle shaking his whole back as he hunched over slightly with pain, hugging his arms around his ribs. It was obvious he hadn't heard her come in as he didn't turn around. Mulder's skin was like ice when she touched him and he let out a strangled cry of shock and wobbled slightly as he became less disorientated. She noticed his pupils were huge. What had he been staring at? After the gale it was relatively calm outside.

"Sorry Mulder. Didn't mean to make you jump. What are you looking at out there? You're freezing, get back into bed."

"Hi," he turned and kissed her, then pulled her to him, slipping his arms around her. She felt the chill of his skin through her sweater even, he was so cold. "its okay Scully... sorry, miles away. I saw some lights down by the beach, some noises and I had a weird dream. Then I noticed you weren't here."

"Sorry, I was taking a shower, then went to grab a hot drink. katherine and I got chatting. What did you dream about?" She asked as she pressed her cheek to his, relishing his embrace.

"I'm not sure... something about the rocks... the causeway.. a crack in the earth and screaming... something in the sea...what?"

She couldn't quite disguise the shudder she felt then.

" Sounds...sounds more like a nightmare. You had a fair amount of Katherine's Irish moonshine. I'm not surprised you are having odd dreams. With the jetlag and all your body clock is all thrown out."

Turning into her embrace he studied her face for a long time, then smiled. Eyes shining in the firelight of the room. If she wasn't mistaken he looked even more disorientated like his attention was elsewhere and he was being pulled in another direction. Somewhere beyond that headland a few miles away. She couldn't suppress the shudder, that inexplicable fear that passed through her. "I brought you a hot drink, help you sleep."

"Ahh see, this is why I love you Scully," he started to cough again, making his chest hitch. "What's that you got there?" he asked as he proceeded to poke a finger in the whitish goo in the bowl on the tray and stick it in his mouth. "Ughhh... what the..."

"Katherine's secret recipe for a cold and flu compress."

"What the hell is it? Mashed Flukie? " Her partner asked, pulling a face.

"Its goose grease...you're meant to spread it on your chest."

"Please tell me your joking Scully."

"Apparently it's meant to be very effective as a poultice. I knew you'd balk but I didn't want to upset her, she meant well. Hey..."

Merlin suddenly dived off the bed and sniffed at the conncoction.

Mulder pulled a face and hopped back over onto the bed, propping himself up against the pillows. "It smells ...like... rancid feathers. Tastes even worse. Kinda like Langly's cooking. C'mere Scully, I can think of something much better I want spread on all over me right now." Before Scully could say a word he'd grabbed hold of both her hands and pulled her over on top of him, nose to nose, which he then kissed. He looked up at her, smoothing her hair from her face as it dangled on his chest, grinning at her like a fool.

"Feeling better?"

"Now I am."

"What you grinning like that for G-man? Something's tickled you. Spill."

"Just imagining Frohike's face when he realises he's having an internet romance with your great aunt of all people." Scully tickled his chest with her fingers, and then raised a finger to his lips. Predictably he sucked the digit into his mouth, his face quite playful. His fever was breaking it seemed. Maybe they could enjoy some sightseeing after all.

"Oh I dunno if I'd call it that. I think Katherine is still pining for Ned. Think Melvin is just her gaming buddy. Though ...come to think of it... I did notice the autograph on the desktop photo. 'Here's looking at you sweet lady, Love Melvin'... Umm you may be onto something there Mulder. Now if you don't stop doing that to my finger..."

"No intention of stopping agent Scully. Its St. Patrick's day and I'm making a good ole Irish wish."

"You're not even Irish,"

"No," his fingers came up to stroke her face and let them trail over the shell of her ear, "But you are."

end part 5. 


	6. Chapter 6

Part 6 Echoes (disclaimer in part one.)

Early hours of the morning.

Mulder startled awake coughing, discovering that sometime in the night he'd been unceremoniously dumped on the floor. Wow the earth really had moved; pity it wasn't because of their lovemaking. A coy grin spread over his face as he remembered that well enough along with sore muscles.

Scatching his chest, it took a moment to figure out where he was in the almost dark. As he got his bearings, something caught his eye as he happened to glance at the glow from the window, watching in awe as a volley of multicoloured lights flew like geese across the glass. What the hell is that?

It went on for a few moments.Mulder picked himself up, grabbed his boxers and checked on Scully. She was sound asleep, face beautiful and serene in the glow from the open fire. Her hair in splayed out on the pillow in a pretty disarray and her lips still slightly swollen from the feice kissing of a few hours ago. I did that to her, he gave himself an inner High five.Heart filling his chest with a familiar awe at the sight of her. Rooted the the spot he just stood there, eyes drinking her in.

Merlin lifted his head for all of a second from where he'd obviously been relegated to the floor as well to look at his new friend, whimpering a bit as the lights shifted patterns across the room. The dog seemed nervous. Mulder felt a rough lick against his hand.

Mulder needed to take a leak and get a drink or something. His chest felt tight after all that late night exercise and he was beginning to feel like crap again. Just a quick trek downstairs and he could come back and resume snuggling up with his nice warm lover. Just holding her made him feel better. So blissful the way his skin seemed to mesh with hers like they were one entity never failed to fill him with amazement and love.

Mulder stilfled a cough, inwardly cursing against the ever present tickle in his throat and fist like ache under his sternum. His head was still a bit tender as well. Hopefully the Aga was still warm and there was hot water in the ever present kettle there, maybe get some coffee. Might take a look outside, just a breather, he told himself. Wasn't going to ditch Scully or anything... She would kill him, but maybe he would just go out the back and get some fresh air, blow some of his fuzzy headedness away and check out those lights, whatever they were and come back in. The wind sounded like it had died down a bit now and at least it was dry outside. Just some cloud cover over the moon and a little mist down near the bay.  
It looked and felt magical. Exhilarating even.

Dressed again in warmer clothing, he slipped quietly out of the bedroom door, avoiding the creaky floorboard he'd discovered earlier. The dog's head went up when Mulder crept out of the room, he whimpered a little and crept out after his new friend.

Mulder swallowed the last dregs of his coffee and washed up the mug in the sink, placing it on the draining board. It was so peaceful, no one around, just the odd slither of wind he could hear whipping across the courtyard outside.

Funny, where was Katherine? No one in the living room on the sofa, he'd checked. Just a pile of blankets neatly folded on the end of the sofa as she hadn't slept there at all. Perhaps she'd gone to check on the generator... but the power was on ok, he'd just used the kitchen light. A little too early for her to be feeding the animals surely?

The black lab was by the door sitting expectantly panting with his tongue out. "Here Merlin..." he bent to stroke the dog, scratching his neck and whispering to him about what a good boy he was, or what he thought the dog wanted to hear. It seemed to have the desired effect as his furry pal went all goofy on him, licking his hands and jumping up his legs. "Shhh.  
now. Wanna come for a walk with me, go find your mom?" The dog whimpered and backed up towards the door.

Mulder threw his thick parka on and stepped outside, careful to quietly close the heavy back door. Immediately, the dog bounded off over the courtyard and the darkness swallowed him up, although he could hear the occasional distant bark. What a difference a few hours made. There was barely any wind at all now, but still it was biting cold with the fog making Mulder pull his parka hood up over his head to keep warm. Despite the warm clothing he still felt the freezing chill right down to the bone.

Where could his host have gone? This wasn't a good time for an old lady to be wandering about in this freezing weather.  
it must have been the early hours of the morning now, but then he had to backtrack. she lived up here and looked after this farm, this was probably a regular necessity to come out if the need arose, come rain or shine. Checking on and feeding animals even if it was what he considered very early,  
or maybe the light show had startled her and she'd got curious about it like he had. Mulder smiled as he gazed upwards to the stars twinkling like frozen eyes in the deep indigo vista of dawn. She was a rather like him in that respect, both recognised that questing need to investigate the curious and unexpected, though he doubted she was as obsessed.

Merlin suddenly came back to his side, wagging his tail, startling him a little. "Hey boy...you can't find her either huh?"

He checked the shed and other outhouses, the barn...where he discovered the infamous still; chuckling to himself over that. Moving out towards the edge of the farm, shivering and one hand on the dog beside him, his eyes scanned the fields ahead and up the hill. Where there weren't ribbons of mist hanging he could just make out some of the terrain in the light of the full moon.

Worried now because he couldn't see any sign of Katherine, he tried to get the dog to go off and find her again but Merlin got a little more than a yard ahead before he turned tail and ran back to him. Tell tale signs of a cough bubbled up into Mulder's chest, hurting his ribs, his hand flew to his mouth, biting down on his lower lip while his arms braced his ribs. For a few seconds he rode out the wave of breathlessness which bent him almost double. It was then that he heard it.

At first he thought it was just the wind. Like a faraway song, a small childlike voice calling even, gaining in strength and then snatched away by the wind that was picking up now. Every sense was alive inside him as he stood up again, gasping, feeling the ethereal song go around in his head, trickling the inside of his skull so badly that he wanted to scratch at it. It was coming from the beach and he had to get there. Some obsessive need took over and kept him running despite the frantic protest of his lungs, the dog still faithfully at his heels.

Mulder headed across the fields, dodging big basalt rocks lurking in the grass and mossy terrain so black that he could barely see them. He'd almost tripped a few times so he slowed down, breathing heavily looking around him. The higher he climbed over the gully that led down to the sea, the more he stumbled and the heavier his breathing. Heart roaring in his ears. Soon he wanted to tear at the sound, to snub out that burning irritation in his mind, his ears. The dull throbbing behind his eyes starting to affect his sight now and he was mostly crawling over the rocks one excruciating step at a time. Cutting hands and knees, possessed by the high pitched wailing banshee cry like every fibre of his being was being propelled against his will, slipping against the rocks every few moments it seemed until the gully eventually began to even out.

Flanked on either side by huge cliffs and pendulous clumps of mist clinging to his body like icy fingers, Mulder was now wading through a stream of near frozen water fed from the hills behind him. Going down a few times, his left knee hit an unforgiving boulder that made white hot explosions of pain shoot through his leg and almost made him throw up. Saturated with sea spray, numb with cold and half mad from the noise and pain, he staggered dizzy and unseeing until he could go no further...

The voices wrapped around him, mocking him, twisting him in their grasp, thundering in his head until he stumbled with a hoarse yell, plummeting over the edge of the outcrop that plunged onto the dark causeway into nothingness, just an unimaginable vibrating and cracking noise broke over his head as he fell, enveloped in light, arms and legs desperatly pinwheeling, barely breathing as Scully's face punched through the chaos and despair fighting for supremacy in his mind. 'So sorry ...Scully'.

The lone silhouette of a dog sat on top of the outcrop, whimpering at the crashing sea on the rocks beyond, his distress mournfully carried away on the wind and sheeting rain. Paws over his ears and occasionally barking at the lights that whizzed past his line of sight. Unable to understand what had happened beyond the fact that his new friend had gone. 


	7. Chapter 7

Echoes 7/7 (disclaimer in the first chapter. uploaded wrong file before. )

Black rock cottage 7.13am.

Scully sat bolt upright, paralysing dread gripping her heart. Something was very wrong she just knew it. No sleepy awakening wrapped in the warm cocoon of her partner's arms and his gentle languid kisses that always greeted her, she felt bereft. She could still smell him, his aftershave, the way his skin felt but he was physically gone from the bed. Jolted from a dream back into cold reality, she shuffled off the bed and threw on her clothes without bothering to change into fresh.

Taking the stairs two at a time she was shaken when she almost knocked her aunt flying coming in the back door as she was trying to go out, an equally shocked look plastered on her face...not just shock, Scully's mind supplied.

Horror.

Working on the X files over the years she felt her stomach flip, she knew that look all too well.

"Dana..." Katherine had been crying, but was now out of breath, shaking a little, a sight that almost paralysed her.

Mulder.

Causeway cliffs

It took them a while to reach the cliffs overlooking the shore but both of them had a determined mission and pressed on through treacherous rocks and driving rain dragging a huge medical kit, tools,  
ropes and Ned's old climbing equipment along with them. The first morning light was just a few streaks of orangey pink edging up over the horizon. It was freezing cold.

Scully's stomach flipped again When they spotted the dog sitting dutifully in place on the cliff top, they knew they had reached the right place. He turned and roused a little when he saw his mistress and her companion, he whimpered. It wasn't a nice sound. Merlin barked, as to mark where his friend had gone over the cliff so they could help him.

"Good boy Merlin, that's a good laddy eh"  
The old Labrador looked at her mournfully.

Katharine didn't say much, she seemed unable somehow as if something had pierced her heart and her soul had bled out through it. She looked utterly bereft, this had to be bad. The words that spilled form her mouth had shaken scully like a small earthquake. Still shaking.

She had been on the shore watching the waves as she said she often did. Scully thought she must have had a reason but didn't press her, too preoccupied as she was with pulling air into her lungs after listening to her. Then she mentioned all her sheep were dead where they had been perfectly fine the night before. No surprise, just flat speech. Detached. She mentioned a disturbance, another loud sonic boom and what looked like arching over the causeway.

She'd made her way down over the honeycombed shaped basalt structures to see if she could find the cause. Curiosity always got to her.  
Wind and rain had driven her for shelter in a cave and thats where she had heard his cries. Saw the impossible.

Scully had heard it to too, telepathically. Their trademark.

About twelve foot up an open crevice, Mulder was somehow trapped in the rocks, caught in the mouth of a hard unforgiving foe. Moaning quietly and calling for help.

Katherine hadn't known it was him at first but she was in shock when she saw him hanging upside-down, blood dripping from somewhere, maybe everywhere on him, turning the sand and the rocks red in a slippery pool by her feet.His legs seemed to be trapped but his arms hung free like a broken puppet, his eyes closed.

'Hang on please. I'll get help.'

Horrified, she ran back the house, that's when she had noticed the sheep for the first time, all lying on their backs, like white unmoving rocks in the grass to ramp up her horror even more.

No time to waste, she needed to find Dana. There was a storm coming and where Mulder was trapped the tide was coming in. Like a egg he could be dashed against the hard unyeilding stacks. He would surely drown if they couldn't free him soon and his injuries looked severe. Just how they could free him was something her mind had stalled on.

The thought that he'd been looking out for her when this happened didn't even bear thinking about. She was beyond bereft, if he died... "He was alive when I left here to fetch you Dana, alive but trapped and I think maybe unconcious. I couldn't reach him, there was no way. He was too far up. I called to tell him I was coming to get you and to hang on but I don't know if he heard me, the tide was coming in and the surf breaking up over the rocks. I dunno if he heard me." She repeated, her words all spilling out in panic.

"How bad was he?" Scully had forced herself into doctor mode to offset the shock and despair she felt right then, the immovable fist of pain in her chest tightened exponentially. Keeping herself together was the only way she could hope to get him out of this.

"I don't know dear. I swear it's my fault. I think he must have been looking for me. .  
I ...should have said I go on these dawn walks... makes me feel closer to Ned... and... but now look what I've done.. I couldn't get a line to call for help.  
phone..the phone seems to be out." And she dissolved into tears but Scully pulled her into a tight hug.

"Oh Katherine...it's not your fault...it's just what Mulder sometimes does...more times than I care to count. Believe me, that man is so inquisitive. Something must have drawn him outside. Something weird was going on all last night. Cracks and bangs, lightning I think. I could only half hear it because I was so tired and worried about him being sick on this trip. I fell asleep and Mulder must have got up for something. We'll get him out eh? You and me. C'mon ...its okay."

"Thank you dear." She seemed far away for a moment before speaking again. "Check the ropes bag; I think there are some long ones in there with a second harness. Some crampons. They were Ned's. Old hobby of his but could never let the stuff go. Don't forget the tool belt either. You're going need that." And she locked eyes with Scully who nodded, breathless.

Scully peered gingerly over the edge of the cliff but couldn't see anything but jagged storm lashed rock, her heart sank right down to the frothing sea with them. Eyes scanning anything that would reward her with one little peice of hope she could latch onto she couldn't see her partner or any sign of him, just angry waves crashing and dark foreboding rock that went straight down in almost uneartly hexagonal pillars, some hollowed out that led right through to the sea like a funnel. White water hissing and blowing up through the gaps in a snarl.

Where was he?

"Mulder..." No answer. Only the waves and wind answered back like a mournful cry. Like a voice.. death song... No she mustn't think that way.

The drenched agent dumped the bag of medical equipment on the grass and went for the other bag of ropes and stuff her aunt had brought along. Pulling out a long one, she began to loop it and clip to the harness she'd thrown on abck at the cottage and doubled tie it round her waist, pulling the knots tight. Then she clipped on the tool pouch, not caring about the sheeting rain hitting her face or the cold, just focused on a one track mission getting to Mulder and getting him safely out of danger.

"You're going to be okay going down there.  
if you want me to..." Katherine looked terrified, she was trying to get the dog away from the edge but Merlin steadfastly refused to budge. His miserable whimper bit right through Scully's soul.

Scully looked pointedly at her. "I have to go Katherine, I'm not ageist but I think absieling down there in this weather, well it could be a problem for you with arthritis. Its okay, I've done this before. Quantico team training.I'll be fine. Going to have to be, there's no choice. Mulder needs us. Just loop the rope and crampons over there around that big rock and then the second rope I'm going to tie around him. I'll tug on the ropes and yell when I'm ready to come up okay?" She pointed up the bank about three meters behind them. "That looks a good a place as any and gives us leverage"  
Katherine complied; securing the rope Scully was attached to and the second one for Mulder.

"Be careful Dana."

She watched her niece from afar by the rock as she checked the tautness of both sets of ropes. With increasing fear her eyes were glued to Dana's rain soaked head as she vanished below the edge of the cliff. This was no weather to be even up here in, let alone the precariousness of absieling down steep stacks. She clung onto the dog for company and warmth, imploring the goddess earth to keep her sweet niece, Dana and her lovely man alive and safe.

About fifteen feet down Scully reached her partner at last. Almost fell on top of him as a gust of wind made her lose her footing. It was a laborious decent and her arms screamed in protest against the ropes, the wind and the sheer effort as if she had climbed miles down. She was out of breath and frozen to the bone but she didn't care. She thought she would never make it but looking at his limp, hanging body now she realized why she couldn't see him before. Mulder was half wedged firmly under a sharp outcrop, almost impossibly between a cleft in the precipice by both legs, while the rest of his body was hanging free in mid air.

"Oh my God Mulder,"

It was weird, almost like his legs had been fused into the narrow rock cleft itself, like the rocks were trying to devour him. There was no rational way he could've have slipped down and ended up that way naturally.  
It defied all reasoning. Had the rocks shifted by themselves trapping him? No, that was impossible.

She cantilevered the rope which lowered her down a bit more past the rest of his body so she could reach his head. She maneuvered him carefully against her.All rag doll and no reaction. Feeling for and finding a pulse in his neck she almost cheered, but then felt her heart sink wondering how the hell she could release his legs.They were stuck fast. If he couldn't be freed he would die. No doubt about that.

Focus , focus. Don't lose it just ...focus.

Alive he was but his pulse was thready, his breathing very shallow. Something sticky in his hair indicated that he may have vomited at some point. Clothing torn to shreds exposing battered flesh and a big gash on the back of his head was steadily dripping blood feet below to merge with the raging sea swirl.

With each crash of the waves against the rocks it deepened her chill and her resolve, one-handedly lifting a harness over his head and securing it around his torso, clipping it to her own and attaching that to a second rope around his middle as a raft of white water shot up the gap and soaked them with icy spray. Scully gasped. It was as though they were reaching up to claim them, drag them into the swirling angry sea to their deaths.

Craning her neck up, she noticed the storm clouds blustering fiercely across the sky far above, heavy pendulous omens of doom from her perspective.

"Hi Scully. ..When did ...you drop in," Mulder's voice was a complete shock that almost stilled her heart. Weak, barely a whisper and she felt the effort it cost him as his chest heaved against her as she held onto him for dear life. Bless him though, she felt like crying, his sense of humor was still intact even if his bones weren't. There appeared no way to get his legs loose.Pulling was a non option. She swallowed her panic, both tibia were probably broken or crushed, he must be in incredible pain.

"Mulder...take it easy love, going to get you of here."

"Good luck Scully," he coughed a little before continuing and she worried to hear the worsening congestion in his lungs. " It's a nice idea... but I seem to be stuck in ..the...rocks like the meat in a ...sandwich."

"Sucky question I know but... How the hell did you end up like this?"

"I don't know," he tried to laugh, " My earth moves whenever ...I'm on top of you Scully.  
this must be an aftershock. But I ...now know what fish bait feels like...and its killing my back. Ahhh."

"And your legs I bet." She grimaced at the sight of his squashed limbs trapped in the dark rock like they'd become one with the formations.

"I ..er..can't feel my legs... May just be because I'm so fucking cold, just hanging around. Scully, what you doing?"

His partner was pulling something out of the big pouch she had clipped to her belt with one hand, while she hung onto him with the other.

"Hammer. Going to try and break the rock and try ease your legs out." Mulder looked sceptical for once but Scully was undeterred and started attacking the rock around his legs. One leg was trapped right in up to his thigh. She had to get him out soon before he went into shock. He was already shivering and his teeth were constantly chattering. His eyes fixated on her bottom lip, her teeth as they bit down on the plump flesh as she worked to free him.

Mulder stared miserably down at the ocean swirling around the bottom of the stack, hoping like hell if by some divine intervention she did get him free he was securely tied. Being thethered to the woman he loved made him feel marginally better, trying to ignore the pain, the cold,the feeling like he had finally used up all his nine lives.

Very slowly, he tried to move his arm to latch onto Scully's but it was too numb with cold. Gritting his teeth he tried to tune everything out, he was fading fast and each time Scully diligently chipped away at the rock he felt excruciating pain lance through his lower body. There was nothing he wanted more than to let go let everything fade to black, his breathing was becoming more difficult with every breath but he owed it to his partner to stay awake, to try and hold on for her. But given her small frame there was no way she could haul him up to the top if she did manage to free him. Was there? He knew she'd give it her best shot.

After several fruitless minutes Scully stopped hammering. It was no good, the little she'd chipped away wasn't enough to allow her to loosen his legs or even get her fingers around to prize them out and she was exhausted.Moreover she was causing him more pain. She felt the first sting of tears in her eyes as she realised it was impossible to move him.

"Scully."

"What..?" She turned her face to the rock; she didn't want him to see her tears or the defeat etched on her face.

"Soo,no rational... theory how I did the impossible and got stuck in the rocks, Agent Scully?"

"No ... It can't happen but it has," she sniffed. "Right now I don't care, I just want to get you out. My aunt is up top,  
she's fine, going to help us get out and then she'll go for the paramedics. The power is out again at the farmhouse so we couldn't get through. Internet is down too this time. Whatever that was ...it fritzed everything like a magnetic pulse. Right now I need to get you out of here.  
by any means necessary."

"I know, its okay...you tried." Mulder's words chattered through his teeth, every part of him trying not to look at the hacksaw she was holding in one hand. Where had that come from? He bit his lip, afraid, and proud of his strong partner who never ceased to amaze him. When the chips were down that courage just roared out of her. Just where she pulled it from such a small beautiful person he could only wonder.Right then she was a giant in his eyes.

Her eyes were full of apology as she finaly looked at him, tears slipping down her face.

"I'm not giving up.. dammit!" Not able to nod he blinked his eyes at her, hardly able to see for the driving rain now cascading down the funnel stack.

Mulder wished he could touch her then but he was almost spent. The wind buffeted them both as they hung there in the ropes facing each other sadly. What else could she do? It was impossible. Something beyond comprehension had put him here; he still remembered that sound like a siren song scraping against his skull. Whatever it was had been his death knell. He didn't want it to be Scully's as well. He wanted her to go back up to the top, to be safe. They were both going to get killed if the rocks shifted again.

And he was as good as done for.

Dangling there, his mind wrestled trying to work out what happened and as weird and inexplicable as it seemed, that was the only answer he'd come up with. This coast was steeped in lore and legend and maybe there was something in the wrath of the two giants that shaped the Causeway on this coast, maybe a sense memory that re-enacted every now and then and he'd been unfortunate enough to get caught it its deadly thrall. Maybe he could open an X file on it, if by some slim chance he could get out alive.

Mulder turned his head slowly towards Scully only meet the despair and fear in her eyes as she contemplated perhaps the only way she could free him alive. Okay so be it, he thought, knowing she wouldn't leave him down here. The thunderclouds above were grumbling angrily across the coast, augmenting the almost subsonic buzz he was feeling within his legs where they were jammed into the rocks. Something was building up to happen again and he wanted like crazy to grab at his skull as the eerie cacophony started up again. He needed her to do whatever and get up off this cliff face to safety.

His heart started to race, chest hitching painfully, eyes imporing her, imbueing the last bit of strength, encouragement and love-- whatever she needed to get through this. And she started to cry again.

"I...I can't do this Mulder.."

"Yes...yes you can... go for it."

"I... don't know if I can.."

"Yes you must... we don't have a choice .  
It's okay ...I'll be alive...with you...I can deal with the rest..." he gulped down his own tears and the sickening dread that gripped his heart. "..later... Scully please."

His partner leaned down and kissed him, awkward and strange because he was upside down facing her. He felt her warm lips against the wet chilled skin of his throat, her fingers stroking his cheek, and he was buoyed by her courage when she whispered "Okay," against his ear, no more than a quiet shaky breath.

"I love you Mulder," her fingers smoothed the clumps of drenched hair out of his eyes, then travelled down his cheek and wiped moisture and blood from his lips where he must have bitten down on them. She crushed his body against her for what seemed a long time but in reality was just a few beats.Not wanting to relinquish that precious contact with him.

There was a roaring in his ears now, like bees on the warpath and his head was the hive. An unrelenting noise that twisted into an almost faraway lilting voice, transporting him into the abyss, pulling him down further as he watched her eyes bleed water all over him as she faded from view.

"I love ...you too..." Scully made sure his body was secure in the ropes, anything but look at his huge scared puppy eyes which slipped closed when he suddenly went limp.

"Mulder.. no ..." she cried in alarm. Panicked, she hoisted herself up a touch fumbling for his pulse. It was still there but weakening and his lips were blue. Fumbling with the saw, she picked a spot about an inch from where his legs were trapped, cut away his Jeans there, pulled some twine from her pouch. Holding it between her teeth while she tied it tight around the area she planned to cut with one hand, pulling it tight with her teeth, finally taking a deep breath, telling herself this was the only way.

It was better to have her lover alive even if disabled, as opposed to letting him die here like this. He'd still be Mulder they could have a life together and she would care for him -- whatever it took. The lesser of the two evils. He'd given her permission ...that wonderful brave love of her life.

As the saw blade hovered over his bruised and battered flesh a huge lightning bolt struck the rock above startling her, and another ...and another until it sounded like an air raid going on overheard,a final shattering flash making her drop the saw...

"NO...!!" she shrieked at the top of her lungs as she watched, horrified as it clattered off the rocks into the swirling eddies of water below, greedily swallowing her only means of freeing her partner from certain death. "Katherine.  
help...", Holding Mulder against her with one arm, Scully yanked on her rope as hard as she could muster to try and alert her aunt. She had other tools up there...if only...

But she never finished that thought. A blinding flash enveloped her as she clung fast to her partner suspended in the tangle of ropes like helpless marionettes as a maelstrom of sounds, a thousand sirens and the deep rumbling roar and cracking of age old rock, like the earth was furious at the gods, splitting them into a million shards, exploding all around them and then darkness.

Continued in the Epilogue 


	8. Echoes epilogue

Echoes - Epilogue Complete.

Echoes - Epilogue (Disclaimer in part one.)

Undetermined time later. Sand dunes near the Giants Causeway. NI.

Damp and cold to the bone Katherine sat dazed in a sandy dune. Ears still deafened she remained there for a while, unable to think or feel, or see anything. Her head hurt and for a few moments it was hard to remember who she was. Getting up she thought she should be somewhere... The storm ...yes the storm...Dana, Mulder.. "Oh god...No!"

She ran, despite her gammy legs she ran, not really knowing where she was or going but she had this voice in her head familiar and compelling so she followed where it sent her. The air was electric like the storm had charged everything around her heightening her energy and purpose to find them. The waves and the wind still mocked her but she ignored them. It seemed like hours since she had been running but her breath carried her on, wind at her heels and sloshing of wet sand soaking her stocking clad legs. When she could go no further her steps faltered and she stopped, gasping. There was something moving up ahead... but sometime during ...whatever this was, she had lost her glasses and her vision was blurred. Never did get that laser surgery did ya Katherine,  
damm it to hell, her conscience mocked her. But It looked like... No it couldn't be...

"Merlin." The dog saw her and came bounding over to her, he was wet and sandy and wouldn't keep still as he licked her all over, practically shaking with euphoria at finding his mistress.

She bent down and ruffled the dog's wet fur hugging him to her while tears streamed down her face. Her poor niece and her man were probably dead, there was no way they could have survived all that, it was happening again, it had taken them too...just like Ned... like.  
Corwen... and the tears flowed anew at the thought of them...

Her partner and only Son.

Lost here so many years ago... claimed by this coast's unforgiving, indiscriminate wrath... She only sought to understand.  
Now they had robbed her of her Dana and Fox as well. How could she ever tell Maggie, that her only surviving child had lost her life trying to save the man she loved ... just as she had lost her loved ones all those years ago?

Merlin started to bark, pulling away from her before she could stop him leaving, her arms empty just holding fresh air. Katherine climbed unsteadily onto feet made weak with grief and followed him; he was going like lighting up the beach towards what looked like the area of the causeway.  
But the landscape was different somehow;  
like she'd been transported to another place entirely.

Chunks of rock strewn out across the beach like discarded toy blocks thrown by an angry child. Deep fissures in the sand opened up like greedy mouths swallowing smaller rocks and drifting sand kicked up by the wind rising in great swirls like apparitions skimming over the shore.

Hexagonal clusters of basalt indigenous to the famous causeway lay scattered and tilted in the sand but when she rounded the edge of the long beach where the cliffs had been, there was nothing there.

...A large gaping maw of cliff had vanished and the pillars of rock that once stood like organ pipes so tall and impressive had gone.  
scooped out like a vertical crater as if something had tunnelled through it and blown it apart on impact.

She bowed her head, tasting fresh tears, wishing it had blown her apart as well, the guilt and grief threatened to overwhelm her but then she felt something soft and wet against her hand. Merlin barked again and tried to pull her coat sleeve...

"No, not now boy... I'm sorry, can't play with you now...please.." But the dog was insistent and kept tugging before finally breaking away again, seeing that he had his owner's attention and scampered off up the beach a few feet ahead towards an outcrop of rocks sticking up from the sand... no they weren't rocks...

"Oh my ..."

The dog jumped around in excited abandon finally able to show his mistress his find, circling and barking. Something was moving. Despite advancing age and fatigue, Katherine ran the rest of the way.

"One, one thousand, two one thousand...three.." A breathless, Dana Scully had been so intent performing heart massage on her partner's lifeless body that she never heard her aunt approach until she felt a warm hand rest on her back. Looking up startled, she saw the unspoken question in the old lady's eyes and nodded acquiescence. Wordlessly they slipped into sync working on the badly injured agent. Katherine doing chest compressions and her niece with her mouth fused to her partner's blue lips forcing life giving breath into his lungs. Swirling sand and wind whipping around the trio as they worked with a single purpose to do the seemingly impossible.

When he coughed finally, his body physically lurching off the sand in his, lover's arms they both cried, Scully hugging her partner to her tightly and pressing her lips against his forehead. "It's okay Mulder, it's alright ... you're going to be fine. Breathe... Keep breathing ..just..we can work out what happened later...but for now ..."

" A chuisle mo chroi," Katherine whispered softly, touching Mulder's face as he opened two sand crusted eyes to meet her beautiful smile and his Scully's.

Carefully they rolled him into the recovery possition mindlful of his managled legs and doubtless other injuries. Mulder's coughed quickly turned to vomiting and a seeming endless slough of gritty sea water pooled in the sand under his mouth. katherine draped her wax jacket over his shuddering body while scully checked his viotals as best she could.

In the distance a helicopter circled and banked towards them, moving ever closer.

Ballycastle Hospital 22nd March.

Mulder was lucky, after being rushed to hospital by an Irish navy rescue helicopter,  
undergoing surgery to set both his broken legs and treatment for bronchitis, concussion and exposure, he only spent three days in intensive care with breathing problems and an erratic heartbeat. Scully was unhurt but shocked and spent a night sleeping on a put you up bed near Mulder's room, lovingly watched over by Katherine who refused to leave the hospital until they were awake and looking healthier. She divided her time between them.

No one knew how the emergency services were called. The generator had been down at the farm at the time and there was no way anyone could have known... unless ...

Scully had her own theories as to where the helicopter came from. She'd inquired to thank those responsible for airlifting them from the beach only to find there was no record of such a helicopter ever being sent out and the Irish navy couldn't even trace the registration code. It didn't belong to them. All they could tell her is that a man who wouldn't identify himself had emailed them. Right then she could have cared less. she had no idea what happened out there on that cold vicious day but what she was thankful for was the fact that Mulder was alive ...and in once piece not least though they were so far from home they had her great aunt's caring company.

One thing though was that when Mulder was examined in hospital it was found that he had sea water in his lungs, and in his unconsciousness kept muttering about mermaids. During a lucid moment he'd claimed they'd dragged him from the sea to save him from drowning. Katherine had grinned indulgently at that, saying that they may never know and that something mysteries were best kept that way. Scully feared Mulder would want to go explore that beach again soon as he was able to get hold of some crutches, maybe open a new X file when he was better. ...it terrified her.

She was still coming to terms with her ordeal. Waking up alone and frozen, dazed without Mulder, not knowing how she got there. Not knowing if her partner were dead or alive. Her head arguing with her heart that he surely was gone from her life.

Her heart refusing to beleive that.

Sometime later she had simply stumbled over his body while wandering for what she mistook for hours and found he wasn't breathing. .

A nightmare still fresh enough to wake her from sleep gasping for air. Fractured images of him falling,dying a hundred diferent ways. Scenarios she couldnt fathom if they were real or imagined. So much of that day was sureal and hard to take in.

Alive... he cheated death once again and her fingers confirmed that as they soaked up his strong hearbeat beneath his hospital gown as they rested against his chest; tiny shamrocks for luck in miniscule print, she smiled inwardly. How quirky.

St Patrick may well have saved him as much as any other explanation for all this.

Maybe Katherine was right.: Some mysteries were best left be.

Black Rock Cottage 29th March.

A few days later, after Mulder had been released they returned to Katherine's farmhouse, the old lady making a bed up for Mulder in the conservatory that swept a full panarama out over the fields down to the sea...It was breathtaking, even though he still slept a lot with cocktail of meds he was on, he got a kick out of the veiw. Scully on the other hand found it rather unerving after all that had happened down there but Mulder seemed pretty relaxed. Kather had given him her laptop to surf with and he'd had a couple of conversations with the guys about a few things. Scully hoped he wasn't teasing Frohike ...tooo much.

He'd been even more delighted that katherine's sun room harbored some hidden treasure; in this case a very large plasma Tv squirrelled away inside a big pine cabinet.  
Since he was confined to bed for a week or so he probabaly would find it too hard to behave if he could access a few ball games on ESPN.

He wasn't going to be able to travel yet for a few weeks and in truth the old lady was only too happy to have their company a bit longer. It seemed that Seamus and Merlin thought so too as they were both curled up either side of Mulder as he tried to scratch at the tops of this plaster casts.

"Damn it I wish I had a knitting needle or something. It itches." Mulder complained as Scully brought him a mug of hot milk. Heavy meds meant he couldn't have caffeine yet so tea was out. However, it didn't stop Katherine spiking his milk with odd drop of Poitin when her niece's back was turned. She winked conspiratorially at Mulder, a gesture that disturbingly reminded him of Frohike, and handed him a plate with some more upside -down apple cake which he was fast getting addicted to.

"Aye if ya had that you might stab yourself in your leg. I have something in my pantry better for making you forget the itch."

"I'll make you forget all about the itch Mulder, if you promise to behave and quit scratching." Scully purred in his ear and she shifted the cat to sit beside him on the floor by the sofa, her hand squeezing his.

"Ah you know Scully this is a bummer, me being laid up like this. We never got to do much sightseeing. What about Skinman's Bushmills. He'll kill me."

"Probably for the paperwork on your medical leave and desk duty when we get back too." Scully piped in to remind him.

Her aunt looked thoughtful. "Well you know if I have to be honest," the old lady shuffled off to the kitchen for a moment. She returned shortly with a big dark brown bottle bearing a James' label. "James's is better by far a whisky, but everyone and his chum head over to Bushmills when they come to here because it's well known and they canny guided tours. You tell that boss of yours that this is a much better brew. I'm telling ya true."

"Thanks we will but Katherine, you didn't have to go out of your way to get that for me."

"Oh I didn't... it's an old bottle and I filled it up with a drop of hard stuff."

Scully and Mulder exchanged amused glances. His partner swatting his hand as it went to scratch at his casts again.

"You mean you filled it up with Poitin."

Mulder started to laugh at Katherine's knowing wink. "I'd have just peed in it, "

"Mulder," Scully swatted his good arm for that.

"And when he runs out he is welcome to come visit me to pick up a fresh supply. Poitin, that is not pee." The old lady added laughing." Sides' don't have you aim, Fox."

"Got an inexaustable suppy of that too.. ow... Scully! He did give me this cold...which turned into an ugly chest infection." Seemingly on cue his lungs erupted again. scully rolled her eyes.

"Which he will get full karma for every time he has to slave over filling in your sick leave forms."

Just then something came through the letter box in the hall cutting off Mulder's retort and Scully went to retrieve it. She returned holding a newspaper.

"That's odd Dana; I don't normally get a delivery out here."

"Really?"

"No, lets give that a once over." She popped on her new specs and scanned the print on the first few pages. She looked up a few moments later, a shocked expression on her face. "Dana, you and your man might want to see this."

Dana took the paper from her and stared at the news article from a few days ago, sat down next to Mulder and shared it with him. It made no mention of their lucky escape as she had expected, but instead reported that that causeway area had suffered a disturbance, a small earthquake.  
the epicentre a few miles out to sea. The photo of the beach area and the Giant's Causeway though was very intriguing. It had been taken the day before by the British geological society, but ...was strangely intact, none of the destruction that they had been embroiled in. It was like it had never happened.

Mulder looked worriedly at Scully, she could see him mulling this over already, forming a hypothesis ...Knowing he'd be itching to take a look for himself if he thought he could get away with it. She gave him her patent stern eyebrow and he chewed on his lip and scratched at his neck.

"It's as though it's rebuilt itself ...that's astonishing."

"Aw it is that. And it's taken its secrets inside it again. But for how long"  
Suddenly the penny dropped. And Mulder gasped his eyes full of compassion he looked at the old lady and watched her eyes cloud over.

"Katherine? Is this what happened to Ned?" The old Lady got up and came over to the big window that overlooked the landscape down to the bay.

"Aye...it is. And someone you didn't know. My only son, Corwen. A number of years before we moved here, Corwen went on a camping trip with his school friends. He was sixteen, old enough to be going on a weekend away with friends. Sensible lad, good grades, loved us both like a son should." Turning to look at the rolling sea beyond the window, "Well ... I think you can guess what happened. We came up here, bought this place to be near him somehow...after he was lost. It helped a lot until Ned. This coast took him too, swallowed him up in the rocks. Gone. They never found his body but he'd been in that area walking when it all kicked off. Went out one day and never returned. He used to look for him down on the beach. He never did get over his death. Some say he went and drowned because he missed his son so much but I think they suffered twin fates."

Scully was almost in tears. "I'm sorry I never knew. I knw about Ned but ...I never realised you had a son..mom didn't say."

Katherine smiled. "No one did really. Your mother was the only I one was in touch with, having burned our bridges with our local family here, was only in the last ten or so years since we got the internet that I came across your mother and our family in the States. Did one of those families reunite things? But anyway, I don't know if I ever mentioned our boy to her. He'd been gone so long and it was too painful. I didn't want any pity."

"Sorry, so sorry we never realised." Scully replied, tucking a blanket around Mulder as he lay down. The meds were making him sleepy again.

Katherine crossed the room to the mantelpiece and took two small objects from the top and brought them over to him and Dana. Mulder recognised them as something he'd perused when they'd first arrived. She handed them one each and smiled sadly.

"I want you both to have these. Corwen loved this place; he always talked of mermaids... Singing to him when he was came to the beaches here as a child. Drawn back year after year. A special place for him."

"Oh Katherine we couldn't." Mulder felt tears prickle at his eyes but his partner's were already spilling down her face. She'd been to hell and back in the last few days,  
wondering if he would recover...the whole trauma and unanswered questions. Seeing him so ill and his condition touch and go.Reliving their cliff face horror in her dreams over and over. To think that her aunt had gone through this twice now.

"Thank you, so much we will treasure them always." Fox's childlike wonder and whispered reply reminded her so much of Ned. And he would have liked this amazing young man. Katherine's lips curled up in a smile.

"I'd like to think there are mermaids Fox. That they spared you from two warring giants. When you were delirious you were saying they pulled you from the water you know. Perhaps Dana too. They owed me big this time."

She pursed her lips.

Mulder shook his head, unable to pull that yet from his eidetic memory, but just a fleeting flash of something tickled him in places he thought he'd forgotten. An angelic face, a never ending song that swept over him like a feather touch and too soon it was gone. When he came back to himself Scully was rubbing his hand. She leaned over and kissed his and she turned his mermaid over in his hand with such reverence, like it was speaking to him and only he could hear it.

Katherine handed them a small glass of Poitin each and took one for herself. They toasted to the loved ones they had all lost and stared at the flames leaping up the back of the fire and just for a moment, Mulder thought he heard that ethereal melody again.

"I'd like to believe that this time they saved both of you." Katherine took his other hand, still bearing the bruising of his ordeal and held it gently in her weathered ones.

Mulder looked at her with great affection as he started to doze off again. "I want to believe that too."

The end.

Thanks for reading. Complete at long last!!


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